"The secret anti-languages you're not supposed to know"

BBC future: Could you erectify a luxurimole flackoblots? Have you hidden your chocolate cake from Penelope? Or maybe you’re just going to vada the bona omi?

If you understand any of these sentences, you speak an English “anti-language”. Since at least Tudor times, secret argots have been used in the underworld of prisoners, escaped slaves and criminal gangs as a way of confusing and befuddling the authorities.

Thieves’ Cant, Polari, and Gobbledygook (yes, it’s a real form of slang) are just a few of the examples from the past – but anti-languages are mercurial beasts that are forever evolving into new and more vibrant forms.

A modern anti-language could very well be spoken on the street outside your house. Unless you yourself are a member of the “anti-society”, the strange terms would sound like nonsense. Yet those words may have nevertheless influenced your swear words, the comedy you enjoy and the music on your iPod – without you even realising the shady interactions that shaped them. (please read the whole thing)

"F. Scott Fitzgerald’s stories to be reissued with sex, drugs, and dirty words put back in"

Raw Story: “Before these stories were bowdlerised, they contained antisemitic slurs, sexual innuendo, instances of drug use and drunkenness. They also contained profanity and mild blasphemy. The texts were scrubbed clean at the Post,” West told The Guardian.

In “The Hotel Child,” for example, a reference to a character “surreptitiously feeding a hasheesh tablet to the Pekingese” was excised from the Post version, and profanity like “Get the Hell out of here!” and the antisemitic slur “Sheeny” were scrubbed from the text. The effect, West said, is that “the decadence of several of the characters is revealed more clearly because of their alcoholism, drug use, and prejudice.”

“More generally, in all of the stories, the characters use the profanity, mild blasphemies, and slang words that Fitzgerald wanted them to use. They speak like real people,” West continued. “One of the commonplaces of Fitzgerald criticism, for decades, has been that he avoided unpleasant topics and realistic language in his magazine fiction. We can see now that this was not altogether his choice.”

How to talk Australians

Link to video

Gawker bans ‘Internet slang’

“We want to sound like regular adult human beings, not Buzzfeed writers or Reddit commenters,” new Gawker Editor Max Read says in a memo to the publication’s writers. Words like “epic,” “pwn” and “derp” are no longer welcome on the site. Read also says the word “massive” is “never to appear on the website Gawker dot com.”...

• Internet slang. We used to make an effort to avoid this, and now I see us all falling back into the habit. We want to sound like regular adult human beings, not Buzzfeed writers or Reddit commenters. Therefore: No “epic.” No “pwn.” No “+1.” No “derp.” No “this”/”this just happened.” No “OMG.” No “WTF.” No “lulz.” No “FTW.” No “win.” No “amazeballs.” And so on. Nothing will ever “win the internet” on Gawker. As with all rules there are exceptions. Err on the side of the Times, not XOJane.

• The word “massive.” Is never to appear on the website Gawker dot com. (read the whole thing)

Poynter

KLEM FM

"Fem" was a southern Wisconsin middle and high school put down when I was growing up there: "Don't be such a fem!" It could have been more widespread -- I still don't know -- does anyone?

The Violent Femmes were from Milwaukee which is just a short drive away from Madison. When I first heard about them I remember thinking "that's a weird spelling of 'fem'."  But it was brilliant: it "frenchified" the spoken word, adding another layer of nuance.

The French first explored Wisconsin, but the Germans, Poles, Italians, Cornish, Norwegians, Swedes, Icelanders, Dutch, Swiss, & Irish, etc., settled the state.  Later on came the African Americans, the Hmong, and the Mexicans. Milwaukee and Chicago were the points of entry for many -- but not every -- family. Mine wandered there from PA much earlier on and never set foot in Milwaukee or Chicago.

Such hegemony...how many native American tribes were in Wisconsin first? My white guilt is for what happened to them.

Extensive timelines of slang for genitalia

The title says it all.

Jonathon Green, a slang lexicographer, has two new timelines. The first is an interactive timeline that shows slang for male genitalia going all the way back to the 1300s up to present. Colors and shapes represent different parts.

Names for the male member

 Go here for the timeline for female genitalia. It has slang terms that date back to 1250.

via Infographics